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Well, a funky bathtub faucet valve prompted me to do what I thought would be a quick fix by replacing the seal. But to do that meant turning the shut off valve for the second floor. After a few turns on the ancient gate valve, it suddenly became very loose. The cold water shutoff gate valve was the same vintage, so I thought I would replace both with ball valves. I had done some copper pipe sweating before, but not enough to be competent. After installing both valves, I turned on the main shutoff valve, and the water was spouting from several joints. I cut everything out again. After installing one valve, I began cutting out what I thought was the leaky cold water shutoff. But because I was tired, I started cutting out the valve I just put in. After reciting some Anglo Saxon technical terms, I went to bed. Next morning I finished cutting out both valves and cleaned up the fittings. The cold water pipe had a constant drip from the supply side. The hot water had a drip from the second floor pipes. So I stuffed the pipes with bread. I took it slowly and sweated the valves in successfully. No leaks! However, the second floor bath had no water. Where was it going? It seems the bread, especially seeded rye bread, all that was on hand at the time, will clog your valves, shower head and sink faucet aerator. And opening up the plugged faucet aerator will resemble explosive regurgitation. So some lessons learned: dont work when you're tired, and stay away from seeded rye for your plumbing needs. And what a pleasure it is to have ball valves!
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